Baby B!

Baby B has arrived!
Our little girl was born on Thursday May 16th. We couldn't be more excited about being new parents. It has been wonderful and challenging already, with much more to come I'm sure.

Nursery complete, well minus one thing...

The final touches are done and we are ready for baby. The nursery has had a lot of additions since the baby shower. We received so many wonderful gifts, & I picked up all the other little necessities and I've had so much fun setting them all up!

I finished the final painting that hangs above the crib.  It says, "Keep clever little FOX" "Be brave little BEAR" & "Grow wise little OWL"

The wall of books is really filling up, with some adorable stuffed animals from our shower gifts here and there.

Mr. B installed a closet rod in our existing TV armoire and I converted that space into a little closet for all of her adorable things!
Some of the dresses are just so cute, I can't wait to see them on her.

The "changing station" is all ready to go! Mr. B picked up this awesome stainless steel diaper pail in the cutest color, Robins Egg Blue, its an Ubbi brand pail.

The bassinet has been set up for a while, and I plan to keep it just by my bed for the first few months for convenience during night time feedings.

I picked up a few organizing baskets to keep all the important items right there at hand. Including this adorable Fiestaware turquoise creamer at a barn sale to store pacifiers and other detrimental tools!

Yesterday I went to a fun event at a friends Ranch. It was a collection of different local artists, craftswomen & men selling their goods for a benefit. I had a great time, and picked myself out a few early Mothers Day gifts.
My favorite is this handmade Turquoise leather clutch bag. The photo doesn't do it justice, the quality of the leather is so wonderfully soft and touchable, yet thick and durable. It holds my giant wallet and phone and few other important items and fits perfectly in my diaper bag...which I assume is going to be my new purse.

The Laundry room got a new decor piece too, I picked it up at the Barn Craft Fair as well. It's a handmade wooden sign with just my colors, and the cutest saying. As you may know I will be spending more time in my laundry room, so I might as well love the way it looks!

The best part is that the sign completely covers the ugly plumbing for the washer!

Now we are just waiting for Baby B to make her appearance!
Happy Mothers Day to all the wonderful moms out there! Mom you are the best!!

Paper lanterns, improved

While searching the web I came across a simple and impressive looking paper lantern idea that involved one of my favorite kinds of crafts, a mindless repetition that can be done in front of the TV on the couch with little to no concentration! Yay! Sometimes you just need a craft like that. 

I had quite a few pale blue & white paper lanterns of assorted sizes that I ordered a while back for a different project. So I made use of them. Here is the link to the tutorial. It's a Martha of course!


Basically you cut out a bunch of tissue paper circles, which was very easy as you can cut through many layers at once. I used double sided tape to stick them to the paper lanterns. How simple is that?
 







I decided to hang the lanterns from a rustic branch structure. Because we have a bit of a nature theme going in the nursery, trees & birds are my thing and the branches just go. Plus they were free!
 

The branches are from my parents property, they were cut down from a lilac tree that needed some trimming, I found them in the back on a burn pile, cut them to length, them Mr. B drilled through them and I threaded in the metal loop screw thing...I think it's called a screw eye.
I hung the lanterns with some fine jute twine. I think they look like cloud puffs floating above my nursing chair, they are very calming, and gently move around just a bit.

Here are some other photos of the nursery in its current condition. Its starting to fill up with wonderful gifts sent to us by guests coming to the baby shower.
Our awesome stroller, with car seat installed, there is a painting I finished a few weeks ago of a tree, and of course the beautiful bassinet, which will be moved into our room when baby gets here!






I hope to get started on that last canvas painting soon!

Baby bookshelves

Mr. B built the baby some new shelves. After I requested some of course, he would prefer to spend every minute in the garage working on the car project. Good thing these shelves took hardly anytime for him at all!

I got the idea for these narrow picture gallery style shelves for the nursery after searching for it on pinterest. I started shopping on Amazon for shelves like this to purchase. They were around $25 -$35 a shelf, plus shipping!! I was not thrilled about that. The total cost in materials was $22.00 in molding, screws and anchors. He made me 3, 4 foot shelves.

We didn't want to make an entire gallery wall like the inspiration photo below, although I love it, it feels busy for us.

Inspiration

Mr. B built the shelves in about 20 minutes. They are constructed out of baseboard molding pieces, primed MDF 2"x 1" and 3"x 1",  also 1/4 round in 1/2" out of pine.

I then painted the shelves, with two coats of some paint we had laying around from when we bought our home. Its Behr paint and primer in one, in "Cotton Whisper".

Here they are installed up on the wall parallel with the window wall. 

The best thing about these shelves is the low profile they have. They work great for areas that you can't afford to fit an entire deep bookshelf. Also they display the adorable children's books so much better than a regular bookshelf

We have added a few of our own children's books from way back when.... I also added a couple pictures of Mr. B when he was younger and a couple toys.

I loved being read to as a child, and I cannot wait to share that experience with our daughter. It leaves such a lasting impression on young children.

I kept my favorite books in such great condition too, even though for years I read them nightly they hardly look used. I've had fun adding some great new books to our baby registry, hope she loves them all!

Nursery Art: 1 down, 2 to go

I posted last week about how I plan to paint the 3 canvases I have had laying around, and use them as art for the nursery. After all we do need something fun and cute to fill up the walls until she is painting for herself!

I have another project going on in the meantime (I'll post when it's done), I only got one painting done this week, but it's my favorite.
The Owls!

Here is a close up of the little guys.  

I plan to paint a Tree on the next canvas, and the last one will be her name. That one may have to wait until she is born, as we haven't chosen one yet! I just hope I have time to paint it after she is born...

I am excited about all the joys our little one will bring, but I am not oblivious to the reality that it will be hard. This video I found, takes the burdens of motherhood to a hilarious level. Hope you enjoy it!

Let the Nesting Begin!

I have begun to have that "nesting" feeling happen, and I am loving it! After over 3 months of literally zero energy, I am very happy to say that I have been able to start our nursery decorating and moved our guest bed into my craft room. I am now into my 21st week of pregnancy.

Here is a previously taken photo of the guest bedroom (now our future little one's room).

We have a 3 bedroom home, that is shrinking by the minute. My craft room is something I cherish, and use on a daily basis. I am coming to grips with the fact that I may not use it as much once little B makes her way into our lives. But for the next 4 1/2 months, I plan to use it every minute I have to myself. So the queen guest bed has moved in on my space in there, (thank goodness they are large rooms) but I am making good use of it. In fact I am blogging while sitting on the bed right now. Its kind of nice to have a soft place to lounge while researching craft ideas, inspiration, or while blogging!

I have also begun a complete clean out and organization of my craft room, so I will have a useful space and know where everything is.

Now for the Baby's room! 

Originally I was going to paint the room a turquoise/sea glass green, but the more I thought about the neutrality of the current paint color and how much I love it, I decided to keep it this pale green and go with a nature inspired nursery. It's "Outback" by Behr. 

We bought a crib! It was a Costco special, and I just couldn't pass it up. You know how Costco is, sometimes they get things in for only a week, and with only 4 in stock, it being a 4 in 1 crib to bed convertible with all accessories included, and a solid hardwood construction, it was a no-brainer.  Sure the crib is a dark espresso stain, and doesn't match the golden oak armoir or dresser, but who cares?! It works, and it's just mis-matched wood colors, not the end of the world.

We also picked up the comfy chair in the corner, just yesterday. It matches my already existing ottoman, and is also a removable slipcover style, so it's easy clean up if anything should get on it. I love washable furniture. 

 

As you can see I have blank canvases all over the room, 3 to be exact. I bought these years ago at an art supply's 50% off canvas sale. I've never gotten around to painting masterpieces on them and I thought I could easily paint nursery art for some cheap decor! The one above her bed, I plan to paint her name on it in a branch style font.

This one is most likely going to be a whimsical tree. 

So I have been pinning (on pinterest) inspiration for Nature Themed nursery art. Mostly Owls, which I love, and trees. In colors that lean a little more in the girly direction, because after all we are having a little girl :) 

   

Here is a sketch of the painting to go to just the right of the window. It's little owls sitting in a tree, in a night scene. I hope to start on this painting today. I'll post a photo when it's done. 

Here is my latest purchase, and hopefully one of the last for decor in here. I picked up these sheer window panels from Cost Plus World Market yesterday when we bought the chair. I was planning on sewing curtains in a plain white solid fabric, but when I saw these I just knew they would be perfect. They are light and airy, with a botanical theme, and a little felt birdie ever so often that matches the green wall color so well. 

I just hung them up last night after Mr. installed the curtain rod, and I haven't gotten around to steaming the fold lines out yet, don't judge me! 

It's coming along well! I just love going in there and dreaming of things to come. I'll try to post any updates as well, I know I've been a bad blogger. Hopefully a new year will change that.